I had the pleasure last week of talking with Tom Douglas, Thierry Rautureau, and Katie O on Seattle Kitchen on KIRO Radio last weekend. We discuss Washington as an emerging wine region among other things. The interview starts at about the 7:57 mark and runs for about 11 minutes. Listen to the podcast here. Enjoy!

The March Virtual Tasting wine is tonight! The wine is the Milbrandt Vineyards 2012 Traditions Pinot Gris. This wine retails for $13 and is reasonably widely available (I've seen it at QFC in Seattle). The tasting will take place from 7-8pm Pacific.

What you need to do to participate is:

1. Buy this month’s wine from a local retailer or from the winery.

2. Tweet your comments about the wine on Twitter between 7 and 8pm Pacific using the hashtag #Milbrandt. For those on Twitter, follow me @wawinereport.

The March Virtual Tasting wine is the Milbrandt Vineyards 2012 Traditions Pinot Gris. This wine retails for $13 and is reasonably widely available (I've seen it at QFC in Seattle). The tasting will take place on Thursday March 28th from 7-8pm Pacific.

What you need to do to participate is:

1. Buy this month’s wine from a local retailer or from the winery.

2. Tweet your comments about the wine on Twitter between 7 and 8pm Pacific on the specified date using the hashtag #Milbrandt. For those on Twitter, follow me @wawinereport.

Taste Washington is coming up this weekend! Here are some ways to make the most of this year's event, which is truly the ultimate celebration of Washington wine.

1. Check out the seminarsThere are a series of educational seminars Saturday and Sunday morning exploring everything from food and wine pairing to Washington's oldest AVA to comparing Washington to some of the world’s best wines. Read the full list of seminars here.

The following article was written by Ryan Messer. Read other articles from Messer here.

Some wine-loving parents think they have to give up wine touring when they have children or at least have to leave the kids at home. You don’t. Wine touring with children can be done, and with a little pre-planning, it can even be enjoyable for all. Below are seven steps to help think about wine touring when you have children in tow.

As Wine Director for Mina Wine Group, sommelier Rajat Parr oversees the wine programs for some of the country's most popular and influential restaurants, including Seattle's own RN74. His resumé also includes a James Beard award winning book (Secrets of the Sommeliers, written in collaboration with Jordan Mackay), a degree from the Culinary Institute of America, and winery called Sandhi Wines. All this before the age of 40. Suffice to say if sommeliers can indeed be stars - and they can - Parr's shines quite brightly. Below I talk with Parr about RN74, how he works to make wine less intimidating, and what he thinks of Washington wine.

Tasting through the lineup of Januik Winery and Novelty Hill 2011 whites and 2010 reds, it’s impossible not to be captivated both by their breadth and by their quality. Winemaker Mike Januik produced an astonishing 28 different wines from each of these vintages. In what was, for many, a challenging two years, Januik not only continued to produce the high quality wines he is so well known for - he excelled.

“2010 certainly wasn’t a year you want to follow set rules,” Januik said. With over 30 years making wine in Washington, he had reason to be less anxious than most for the cool 2010 and 2011 growing seasons having seen similar conditions before. Still, there were some reasons for concern.

The following post was written by contributor Erika Szymanski. Read more about Szymanski here.

Trying to give a brief introduction to the viticulture and enology programs at Washington State University (WSU) is a bit like trying to give a brief introduction to wine in general. There’s just too much to say, so if the explanation is ever going to be brief, it must also be incomplete. So, bear with me; this is only part of the story.

Our March Pic of the Vine comes under the heading of 'Be careful what you wish for.' Contributing photographer Richard Duval captured this sign of precipitation to come at Red Mountain a few days ago (that’s Col Solare in the left corner).

“Red Mountain, always a favorite shooting locale of mine, often gets spectacular clouds,” Duval said. “Heading west from Walla Walla, I stopped to note a few places for summer shooting when this enormous storm cloud blew in quite suddenly from the southeast. Even with an ultra wide lens, I could barely contain all of it in a single frame." Click on the picture for a larger version of the image.

Editor’s Note: For more of Duval's images, pick up the Spring issue of Washington Tasting Room Magazine where Duval penned and photographed the cover story on Whidbey Island’s wine scene. Duval also provided photos for the profile of Waterbrook.